Declaration Rejecting the Legitimacy of the

Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission

Whereas:
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has failed in its
mission to:
protect the public health, safety and welfare of the citizens and
protect the welfare of the environment and wildlife resources.
We, Coloradans Against Fracking, find it necessary to reject the authority
of Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to make decisions that
negatively impact our health, our air, our water, and our land, or violate the
will of the voters seeking to protect their health, air quality, water quality, or
property from the impacts of oil and gas extraction. Therefore, it is our duty
to continue to work to genuinely protect the people, wildlife and the
environment of the state of Colorado.
Addendum
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Mission Statement:
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission was created to foster oil and gas
development in the state of Colorado while protecting public health, safety, and welfare,
including the protection and welfare of the environment and wildlife resources.
Nothing about the current heavy industrial processes used to extract oil and gas is
compatible with maintaining public health, safety and welfare or protecting the
environment and wildlife resources. Toxic air pollution, explosions, fires, earthquakes,
and toxic spills contaminating ground water & polluting rivers and streams all continue to
occur. As drilling and transport of raw materials and waste increases, so does the
incidence of accidents. The COGCCs actions and regulations have not stopped the
spills, accidents or earthquakes. Compatibility between this heavy, toxic industry and
public health, safety and welfare is not possible within such close proximity of human
activity.
(continued)

Research, studies, data:

The dangerously irresponsible actions taken, or not taken, by the COGCC are not from a
lack of competence. They are the result of selective interpretation by the COGCC of the
edict written by the Colorado legislature defining their duty. By choosing to define their
mission from the industry's point of view, the COGCC gives themselves permission to
ignore scientific documentation, data and empirical observation that prove toxic, adverse
effects to our air, water, soil, health and property caused by oil & gas development: and
to reference only studies solicited by and for industry when creating rules and
regulations. The COGCC chooses to ignore the many peer reviewed, scientific studies
made available to them. What may be the most offensive and harmful action of all, is
that members of the COGCC choose to ignore the many personal testimonies of
Coloradans who have been harmed by oil & gas development.
Process:
The actions of the COGCC demonstrate that the processes established to provide
opportunity for public input and participation are intended only to create a false sense of
security for the public; a facade meant to lure a trusting public into submission and
complacency - with the secondary purpose of deflecting any and all who might challenge
the authority of the COGCC to permit drilling when and wherever the industry chooses.
Any comment, criticism or testimony that is not in support of the industry may be
listened to, but are ultimately ignored.
Regulation:
COGCC regulations, insistently touted as the strongest in the country, are empty words
created to provide a false sense of security. Monitoring and reporting is largely left to the
industry with notice given in advance of inspection. Self-regulation amounts to no
regulation. Token fines may be imposed in instances when a fine is legally required.
These minimum fines are often dismissed when the company accepts the choice of
performing community service. Here the COGCC has been consistent. They regularly
apply no fine or a minimum fine for industry violations.
Coloradans Against Fracking says enough.
We, the people, simply cannot and will not recognize the legitimacy of a commission
whose actions are detrimental to our health and safety, and to the health and safety of
future generations. By both their actions and inaction, the Colorado Oil and Gas
Conservation Commission constantly and consistently fails to fulfill its mission and by
doing so, fails to protect us, the residents of the state they are charged with protecting.
Therefore, Coloradans Against Fracking must, in all moral conscience, reject any
authority the failed Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission claims to hold, and
will continue to work to truly protect the citizens, wildlife and the environment of the state
of Colorado.